• 4 weeks left!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    4 weeks left!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Well here I am sat in another of India's scuzzy cess pit towns, Allahabad not far from Varanasi. By this time tomorrow I'll be in Varanasi and by Wednesday morning I'll be back in Delhi, nearly ready to embark on the last leg of my trip which will take place in northern India. Since my last post I have spent a week in Pushkar, a night in Agra on my way to Khajuraho where I spent 3 nights. Then I moved on to Chikrakut for a couple of days before arriving in Allahabad yesterday.

    Pushkar was a wonderful week. For rupees 100 per night I had a clean room with a double bed and shared bathroom. My room opened out onto a rose and papaya tree garden and room service was provided. This made waking up in Pushkar everyday for a week an untold pleasure. Twas wonderful to fall out of bed into the beautiful sun soaked garden and be fed chai on request. Pushkar itself has a wonderful atmosphere. My only regret was that I was there alone. That didn't matter too much, there are plenty of people to talk to in Pushkar.

    Moving on, I knew what to expect from my one night in Agra having been there already. The journey to Khajuraho was a bit tough. The first half, train to Jhansi was a piece of cake but the second half, bus to final destination was a bit of a nightmere. I was sat next to this indian psycho who wouldn't let up for most of the journey even though we had established that we didn't have a common language and therefore couldn't speak to each other. I thought he was gonna get violent eventually. He didn't thankfully. I wasn't the only victim. He had 2 Japanese women close to tears for a good chunk of the journey, it was all rather horrid really. Of course all the other Indian males on the bus thought it was hilarious, wankers. It did make me wish that I was making more effort with my Hindi so I could tell him to fuck off more effectively.

    Anyway, Khajuraho was a bit shit. The temples with the occasional Karma Sutra depictions are wonderful. There aren't many dirty carvings though, maybe 1 in a hundred. I feel all templed out in many ways at the moment, I've seen so many in the last 6 months. I was only really interested in the Khajuraho temples because of the Karma Sutra depictions and was disappointed that there weren't more (te he). Having said this, of all the ancient temples I've seen, the ones in Khajuraho are probably in the best nick. The reason Khajuraho was a bit shit is that it's off season there. This means that I was one of the few tourists and while this is good when viewing the temples, its shit when walking around the town because it meant that every shop owner, rickshaw wallah (rickshaw wanker more like) and scamster was on to me and when the tourists are few, their resolve to not take no for an answer is all the more deeply held.

    Chikrakut was interesting. They don't get many non indian tourists there. The indian tourists that are there are really there as pilgrims. Chikrakut is said to be the place where Vishnu, Bramha and Shiva took their incarnations or to but it another way, were born. It's also the place where Rama and Sita went after Rama's father banished Rama from Ayhodhya. Cant remember why Rama's father banished him from Ayhodhya, I've read the story. It was probably at the rediculous request of some Brahmin. Anyway Rama is an incarnation of Vishnu and in Chikrakut Ram as he is referred to is worshipped heavily. There are several things to do as a pilgrim in and around Chikrakut. One of them, which I did is to walk around a local mountain that I think represents Ram. Its a 5 KM walk and is done bare foot. Monit, the chap I did it with (originally from Delhi. Says he's in Chikrakut because he's a bit mad and wants to concentrate on god. I think he just wants to smoke more chillum in the country air) does it 3 times a day. He believes it gives him power. I kinda wish I'd have stayed in Chikrakut a little longer and got to know Monik a bit more.

    Like I said, now I'm in Allhahabad. By the way. Allhahabad's special feature is the fact that the rivers Ganges and Yamuna (and the entirely imagionary Saraswati) converge at this point. I think this is where the Kumbh Mela event is held. I went to see the convergence today and like pretty much every other inch of india that I have seen, it's just a desolate waste land where people shit and drop litter.

    Home in 4 weeks, big up the mountains!!